Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ration

Ration (rā"shun or rash"un) , noun

[French, from Latin ratio a reckoning, calculation, relation, reference, Late Latin ratio ration. See Ratio.]

1.
A fixed daily allowance of provisions assigned to a soldier in the army, or a sailor in the navy, for his subsistence.

Officers have several rations, the number varying according to their rank or the number of their attendants.

2.
Hence, a certain portion or fixed amount dealt out; an allowance; an allotment.

Ration , transitive verb

To supply with rations, as a regiment.